Saturday, May 20, 2017

Last month, I had the privilege of being part of the Lara Jane Parker Awards ceremony. As a previous recipient of this award, I introduced a new winner, and enjoyed the warmth and comeraderie of all the people involved with this fabulous foundation.

Here's a little background on New Voices. The mission of this group is to help children with severe communication and physical chappenges maximize their learning potential. The ultimate goal is inclusion in all aspects of life. New Voices seeks to do this through community awareness, training for professionals, family support, and increased access to assistive technology. I am personally honored to serve on the Board of Directors.

The Lara Jane Parker award was named after an outstanding young lady who graduated from UNC in spite of significant communication and mobility challenges. The award was established to provide both reward and recognition to those outstanding teachers, therapists, parents, education and health professionals and leaders who work daily to improved the lives of New Voices children. These individuals help improve their schools and their communities in ways that will allow these children to be fully included in all aspects of their daily lives. The recipients are local--Alamance, Chatham, Durham, Johnston, Orange, and Wake Counties, along the with Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.

Lara Jane Parker award recipients

I was in awe of these award winners, three of whom are speech-language pathologists, and one a teacher of exceptional children. My Chapel Hill--Carrboro City School colleague, Kara Van Hooser, has been using creative, and cutting edge therapy techniques for years with her severely handicapped students. Another speech-language pathologist, Caitlin Burke, recently gave voice to a student who had not had a functional communication system for the first 14 years of his life. All four of these individuals are leaders in their field and constantly strive to perfect their skills, and improve the lives of their students. Congratulations!

If you want to find out more about New Voices, or would like to offer financial support to their mission, please visit their website.You can also follow New Voices on Facebook.From time to time, I'll be posting about projects and the children of New Voices. Stay tuned!.

Friday, May 12, 2017

Mother's Day is in two days, but let's not forget about Dad! His special day is outside of a typical school year, but if you are not in school then, celebrate early!

This is an interactive book to go with
Father’s Day. This book is meant for the more
linguistically challenged students and is perfect for speech/special ed collaboration. The
interactive book focuses on verbs associated commonly with fathers. These are
the same verbs that were in my Mother’s Day interactive book found in my store.
Clipart is by Smarty Symbols copyright 2017.

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

I recently went to a workshop run by Karen Erickson. There is not enough space on this page to list all of her skills and accomplishments, but please look up her various projects here. The workshop was an awesome reminder why I like working with students with significant verbal challenges.

I like creating interactive books. These books are meant to not be for mere matching, but for shared reading. The interactive piece is nice for highlighting concepts, and keeping attention, but a core board should always accompany this so the adult can model comments. You can download samples of core vocabulary here.

Anyway, we just had an awesome rain shower last night in Chapel Hill, which reminded me that weather is a common topic in an elementary classroom. I created a free interactive book just for all of my internet friends struggling with finding materials with no instructional budget. Have fun!